from the new york times.....
Clinton Casts the Congress as Do-Nothing
september 26, 1998
By JOHN M. BRODER
CHICAGO -- Cheered by polls that appear to show the beginnings of a backlash against congressional Republicans for a seeming preoccupation with the Lewinsky scandal, President Clinton Friday criticized them for a lack of action on spending bills and other legislation.
In remarks before leaving the White House Friday morning for a three-day fund-raising swing on behalf of Democratic candidates, Clinton said, "By failing to meet its most basic governing responsibility, the Republican majority in Congress has its priorities wrong: partisanship over progress, politics over people."
THE PRESIDENT UNDER FIRE
Clinton laced his comments with a sharp partisan edge, hoping to gain an advantage with the public as Republicans appear to be moving toward authorizing an impeachment inquiry against him. In his speeches late this week, there has been no mention of his affair with Monica Lewinsky or for his seven months of misleading statements about the relationship.
As he tries to turn attention away from the threat to his presidency, Clinton has authorized his lawyers to privately negotiate a financial settlement in the longstanding Paula Jones sexual misconduct case that is now pending appeal. If successful in putting that matter behind him, Clinton could then argue to Congress that he has resolved the accusations that ultimately exposed his affair with Ms. Lewinsky, although what effect a settlement would have on the impeachment inquiry remains unknown.
Trent Lott, the Senate majority leader, resisted any notion of short-cutting the House deliberations on impeachment Friday, saying the process should be allowed to go forward. And he returned fire on the president's criticism of Republicans in Congress, deriding Clinton as "Fundraiser-in-Chief" and accusing him of neglecting his own responsibilities as he maneuvers to salvage his political future.
"The president comes out at a time when he needs cooperation with -- and we need cooperation from him -- with the Congress, and he takes a gratuitous slap, jumps on a plane, and runs off for three days of fund-raising," Lott said. "Now is he the fund-raiser-in chief? Or is he the commander-in-chief?"
"Now we're doing our work," he said. "Maybe he just hasn't noticed; he's been distracted. And what he's trying to do is distract attention from his problems by trying to, you know, push the blame off on somebody else."
And Rep. Ann Northup, R-Ky., said that Clinton had failed to exert his influence to help win passage of fast-track trade legislation, which the president supports but a majority of Democrats oppose.
"Where is he?" Ms. Northop asked sarcastically. "He's out on a political junket."
Barry Toiv, the White House deputy press secretary, said that it was the Republican leadership, not Clinton, who is responsible for the gridlock in Washington.
"I don't know how he can say that," Toiv said, referring to Lott's criticism. "It's not the president who has eeked out a total of one appropriations bill in nine months, with only five days left to go in the fiscal year. It's not the president who is five months behind in enacting a budget. It's not the president who has failed to approve education spending."
Toiv added, "Look, the Congress needs to get its work done. I think that's the point the president was trying to make today."
Clinton said there were still a few days left for Congress to act before breaking in early October for electioneering. But he held out little hope that Republican leaders would heed his call and appeared delighted to have a slow-moving target at which to aim political barbs.
He said he had signed a stop-gap spending bill Friday morning to keep the government running while Congress debates specific appropriations bills. He called the emergency measure "a regrettable sign" that Republicans were "moving in the wrong direction."
He was particularly critical of a Republican plan to cut taxes by $80 billion before the future solvency of the Social Security trust fund is assured.
The president appeared emboldened by recent polls that show approval of Congress slipping while his popularity registered gains after the airing Monday of his grand jury testimony in the Lewinsky investigation. His public comments reflect a calculation that he can gain politically by contrasting his focus on public business with Congress' heavy diet of impeachment talk.
On a separate tour with similar themes, Hillary Rodham Clinton campaigned for Democrats in Colorado, Oregon, Washington and California this week. At an elementary school in Sheridan, Colo., on Thursday, Mrs. Clinton complained that Congress does not seem to have time to devote to issues like education and classroom size.
"And I wish that I could have every member of Congress who is too busy -- too busy to have a hearing about school modernization, too busy to consider adding teachers to lower classroom size, to come with me to Ft. Logan," Mrs. Clinton said, referring to the school where she spoke. "They could not do that and the result is you won't see them ... they'd rather spend time dividing our country, diverting our resources, doing anything but focusing on the real problems of America."
Clinton sounded the same anti-Congress theme in an appearance at an elementary school in Chicago Friday, accusing Republicans of inaction on legislation on education, health care, the environment and the global economy.
And, at a fundraiser for Glen Poshard, the Democratic candidate for Illinois governor, at which Poshard did not appear, Clinton said that after eight months of inaction, the Republican leadership of Congress now wants to pass a popular tax cut on the eve of the mid-term election.
"The majority party wants to make everybody happy close to the election with a tax cut," Clinton said. "But it's not the right thing to do. Before the red ink turns to black and it dries a little bit, people want to turn around and spend it again."
Poshard, who spoke to the $250,000 fundraising luncheon at Chicago's Mercantile Club by telephone from Washington, said that critics would accuse him of seeking to distance himself from a president in serious political trouble. "Nothing could be further from the truth," said Poshard, a Democratic member of Congress from southern Illinois. "I'm very proud of your work," he said, addressing Clinton. "I'm very proud of your leadership."
Poshard said he had remained in Washington to vote on Social Security and tax legislation. But he also was preparing to vote against the administration's position on fast-track trade authority, a position he has held consistently, according to David Gillies, Poshard's congressional press secretary. Poshard, like many Democrats, believes the administration's trade position does not ensure adequate protection for workers and the environment in less-developed countries, Gillies said.
Clinton said that he gave Poshard an "excused absence" from missing his own fundraiser to stay in Washington to vote.
Clinton will appear at five more fundraising events for Democratic candidates this weekend, three in California and two in Texas. He also plans to spend Saturday morning with Mrs. Clinton visiting their daughter, Chelsea, who is a sophomore at Stanford University.
The president returns to Washington late Sunday night. |
